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Irish litany of the Trinity

  • Middle Irish
  • prose
  • Irish religious texts, Irish prayers and hymns
Early Irish prose litany addressed to the Trinity.
First words (prose)
  • Airchis dín, a Dé Athair uili-cumachtaig
Author
Ascribed to: Mugrón [abbot of Iona]
Mugrón ... abbot of Iona
(d. c.981)
Abbot of Iona and supposed author of a number of vernacular Irish poems. His obit in AFM remembers him as ‘scribe/writer and bishop, sage of the three divisions’ (scribhnidh ⁊ epscop, saoi na t-Tri Rand).
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Ascr. to Mugrón, heir of St Columba (i.e. abbot of Iona), in Rawlinson B 512. The text in YBL is found without ascription. The true author of the litany is unknown. O'Curry attributed the YBL text to Ailerán/Airerán of Clonard on the basis of the occurrence of the word oirchis (‘mercy’), which is glossed in [[Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1337 |TCD H 3. 18]] “as it is said in the prayers of Airinán the Wise” (not to be identified wtih Airerán, abbot of Tallaght, according to O'Curry).
Manuscripts
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318 6, cols 281-344 = Section of YBL
p. 327 (facs.) col. 338
The Yellow Book of Lecan version or Prayer of St Airerán the Wise. Begins in Latin, ‘O Deus Pater omnipotens Deus exercituum misereri nobis’ and continues the same phrase in Irish, ‘A Dé Athair uilechumachtaig, a Dé na slóg airchis din.’
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 512 III, (a) ff. 75B-100, (b) ff. 37-44 [s. xv?]
ff. 42a–42c
rubric: ‘Mugrón, comarba Coluim cille, hec uerba composuit de Trinitate’
beg. ‘Airchis dín, a Dé Athair uili-cumachtaig’
The Rawlinson B 512 version ascribed to Mugrón, heir of St Columba.
London, British Library, MS Additional 30512 = Leabhar Uí Maolconaire [s. xv-xvi]
f. 37
beg. ‘Aircis damh a Dhe h-uilechumachtaigh’
A longer recension.
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 16 (1230) = Leabhar Breac (‘Speckled Book’) [s. xvin]
p. 74
Fragment.
Language
  • Middle Irish
Form
prose (primary)

Classification

Irish religious textsIrish religious texts
...
Irish prayers and hymnsIrish liturgical and devotional literature
Irish prayers and hymns
id. 32640

Irish prayers, hymns and other devotional texts

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Plummer, Charles, Irish litanies: text and translation, Henry Bradshaw Society, 62, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1925.  
Edition, with English translation, introduction and textual notes. of a selection of Irish litanies.
CELT – edition: <link>
78–85 Rawlinson B 512 version.
[ed.] [tr.] Meyer, Kuno [ed. and tr.], Hibernica minora, being a fragment of an Old-Irish treatise on the Psalter, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Mediaeval and Modern Series, 8, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894.
Internet Archive: <link> TLH – Erchoitmed ingine Gulidi (ed. and tr.): <link>
42–44 [‘Mugrón’s invocation of the Trinity’] Rawlinson B 512 version and the fragment from Leabhar Breac.
[ed.] OʼCurry, Eugene, Lectures on the manuscript materials of ancient Irish history, delivered at the Catholic University of Ireland during the sessions of 1855 and 1856, Dublin, 1861.
Internet Archive: <link>, <link> Internet Archive – Originally from Google Books: <link>, <link>, <link> Internet Archive – multiple copies: <link>
614 Edition of the first portion of the text in YBL, described on pp. 378-379 direct link
[tr.] OʼCurry, Eugene [tr.], “The MSS. remains of professor O'Curry in the Catholic University: i. Prayer of St. Colga; ii. Prayer of St. Aireran the Wise, ob. 664; iii. The rule of St. Carthach”, The Irish Ecclesiastical Record 1 (1865): 4–12, 63–64, 112–118, 172–181.  
comments: Posthumous publication of three translations by Eugene O'Curry, each of them introduced by the editors of the journal (‘a society of clergymen under episcopal sanction’): 1. ‘Prayer of St. Colga’, a translation of the Scúap Chrábaid, a litany in YBL, described and partially edited in OʼCurry, Eugene, Lectures on the manuscript materials of ancient Irish history, delivered at the Catholic University of Ireland during the sessions of 1855 and 1856 (1861): 379-380, 614-615 (Appendix CXXII). The editors write: “Through the gracious permission of their Lordships the Board of the Catholic University, who placed at our disposal the manuscripts belonging to the late lamented Mr. O'Curry, now in possession of the University, we are enabled to give our readers this interesting and valuable document.” -- 2. ‘Prayer of St. Aireran the Wise’ -- 3. ‘The rule of St. Carthach’.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
63–64 Translation based on YBL.
web page identifiers
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2011, last updated: March 2024
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